The actress married one of the most coveted actors on the planet, a union that ended in one of the most resonant trials in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the environment of the creator of Tesla defined her as "chaotic evil" and "toxic." Her mysterious motherhood and her ambiguous s**uality. Amber Heard turns 38. A career with more scandals than successes
"I have worked very hard to bring something more to the roles of 'pretty girl' over the years. I consider it a challenge," she had told Elle magazine. She took the challenge so seriously that in recent years, Amber Heard is in all the news for her complicated relationship with Johnny Depp, her romance with Elon Musk, her dog smuggling and her reputation as an abuser.
Pet smuggling
Amber Laura Heard was born on April 22, 1986 in Austin, Texas. Although she started out as a model, she soon found her way to a career. “My father convinced me to take acting classes and my first agent in Austin paid for them. I always wanted to be an actress. I did it in high school and fell in love, but the modeling industry distracted me because I wanted to travel and get out of my hometown. It was the easiest ticket,” she said of the transition from modeling to acting.
After four years of meeting on the set of The Seducer’s Diary (2011), Amber Heard and Johnny Depp married, but problems came just a few months later. According to BBC News, the couple traveled to Australia in May 2015, without declaring their two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, to customs officials.
Australia has strict laws on importing animals, and the country’s agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, did not allow it. Joyce issued an ultimatum, as reported by The Guardian: The dogs had to return to the United States within 72 hours or they would be euthanized. Joyce said that “it’s time for Pistol and Boo to go to America.” Just before the deadline expired, the pets returned home. While Depp did not face any consequences in the case, Heard did. According to CNN, he was charged with two counts of illegally importing animals and one count of knowingly presenting a false or misleading document. The following year, Heard pleaded guilty to the charges related to the false document, while the other charges were dropped.
Heard vs. Depp
Dog smuggling was not the only scandal in Heard and Depp’s marriage. According to E! News’ timeline of their relationship, the couple — who were 22 years apart in age — separated in May 2016, and their divorce was finalized in December of the same year. But days after filing for legal separation, Heard asked for a restraining order against Depp, claiming she was a victim of domestic violence. In her court appearance, Heard claimed that throughout the marriage she endured “excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny.” Meanwhile, photos of her bruised face surfaced. Meanwhile, Depp denied the allegations. In December 2018, in an article for the Washington Post, Heard recounted her alleged experiences as a victim of domestic abuse, but did not explicitly mention Depp by name. Her ex-husband later sued for $50 million in response, prompting Heard to file a motion to dismiss the case, in which she claimed she was pushed, choked and punched by the Pirates of the Caribbean star in several alleged incidents. Alleging that Depp suffered a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality change and “became a totally different person,” she added: “We called that version of Johnny ‘the monster.’”
Johnny Depp has always denied allegations of domestic violence levelled against him by Amber Heard. In March 2019, he sued his ex for defamation, seeking $50 million in damages, in which he described Heard’s Washington Post op-ed as part of her “elaborate deception.” While Depp was not named in the article, the legal documents claimed that it hinged “on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a victim of domestic abuse and that Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her.” Claiming that Heard’s motivation was to “advance her career,” Depp stated: “She hit me, punched me and kicked me. She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects at my body and head.”
In 2020, an audio recording from 2015 was leaked via the Daily Mail which revealed Heard allegedly telling Depp: “Fucking hell, I was hitting you… I didn’t punch you, I was hitting you.” That March, Heard's motion to dismiss Depp's lawsuit was denied. Amid these controversial allegations, fans supporting Depp demanded that Heard be removed from her role as Queen Mera in Aquaman 2 through a petition on Change.org with more than 405,000 signatures. But the actress continued to be linked to the film.
Ultimately, Johnny Depp won the defamation suit against his ex-wife, although the jury also sided with her. The jury reached a unanimous verdict and decided that the actress should pay $15 million to the Pirates of the Caribbean star. But, due to the defamation committed by Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, the jury determined that Heard should receive compensation of $2 million. "The mountain of evidence was not enough to deal with the power and disproportionate influence of my ex-husband," she told BBC. I am even more disappointed by what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It turns back the clock to a time when a woman who speaks out and denounces can be publicly shamed and humiliated. It turns back the idea that violence against women should be taken seriously.”
Amber Heard had romantic relationships with both men and women in her life, but admitted she was not prepared for the shock and headlines that came when she casually opened up about her s**uality at the 2010 GLAAD Awards. Years later, she told reporters at The Economist’s second annual Pride and Prejudice forum that “I was just honest. I could tell from the look on this person’s face that it was a big deal. My poor publicist. I then understood the gravity of what I did and why so many people – studio executives, agents, advisers – didn’t want this to appear before my name.”
But Heard was upset to be labelled bis**ual. He explained in an interview with Allure in 2017. “I don’t identify as anything. I’m a person. I like who I like.” With that said, he went on to reveal how he was warned that going public about his s**ual fluidity would send his career into a tailspin, “Everyone was like, ‘You’re throwing it all away. You can’t do this to your career. ’ And I was like, ‘I can’t do this any other way. Look at me. ’ I didn’t come out. I was never in.”
A violent girl?
Long before her allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp, Amber Heard had a previous experience of domestic violence. But in that earlier incident, she was the alleged aggressor, not the victim. According to a USA Today report, Heard was in September 2009, when the actress and her then-girlfriend, artist Tasya van Ree, got into an argument at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Things turned physical when Heard grabbed and punched Van Ree’s arm, and she was later arrested on a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault. But prosecutors did not file charges when she appeared in court the next day.
When the story resurfaced seven years later, Van Ree issued a statement defending her famous ex, claiming that Heard was “wrongfully” accused when arresting officers “misinterpreted and exaggerated” their fight. She also alleged that the former couple experienced what she called “misogynistic attitudes from the arresting officers towards us, which later appeared to be homophobic when they discovered we were de facto partners and not just friends.” Van Ree continued, “It is unfortunate that Amber’s dignity and story is once again being called into question. We shared 5 wonderful years together and remain close to this day.”
A relationship behind the scenes
Although her love life is usually high-profile, Amber Heard had a brief relationship with someone behind the scenes during the coronavirus pandemic. According to Daily Mail, Heard was linked to cinematographer Bianca Butti in January 2020, after they were seen kissing in Palm Springs and then strolling arm in arm in San Diego. Days later, they even appear to have attended a women’s march together.
Two months later, Heard suggested that she was quarantining with Butti. She posted a video apparently taken by Butti in her backyard, and mentioned social distancing in the caption. People magazine reported that the former couple was even often seen together at shops. They were together at vital times, as during their relationship, Heard became a mother. Also, Butti was battling breast cancer again at the time. Despite sharing experiences, in December 2021 the couple split.
Romance with Elon
A new biography of Elon Musk calls Amber Heard from “chaotic evil” to “toxic.” In addition to her brief marriage to Johnny Depp, Amber Heard was also involved in another high-profile relationship with billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk. According to Amber, she and Elon started talking at the 2016 Met Gala. Heard said of their first meeting that “he seemed like such a gentleman. He was very nice. He sat down at a table nearby and we got to talking that night and eventually became friends.” Amber and Elon ended up dating before breaking up for the first time in 2017. The pair attempted to rekindle their romance before breaking up for good in 2018. While speaking about her split with Musk, the actress told The Hollywood Reporter that she and Elon had “a beautiful relationship, and now we have a beautiful friendship, one that is based on our core values.”
While Elon Musk remains cordial when talking about Amber, those closest to her aren’t afraid to hold back. In Walter Isaacson’s biography, titled Elon Musk, Elon’s brother Kimbal said the following about her: “She was so toxic. A nightmare.” Meanwhile, Elon’s chief of staff told Isaacson that “She was like the Joker in Batman. She had no goal other than chaos. She thrives on destabilizing everything.” Isaacson also detailed their tumultuous fights, which included the actress locking herself in a room and claiming she was afraid of being attacked. Kimbal went on to tell his brother’s biographer that Heard “is actually a very good actress so you’re going to be like, ‘Wow, maybe she’s telling you the truth,’ but she’s not.” Additionally, Elon’s ex-girlfriend Grimes, who is also the mother of three of his children, compared Amber to a Dungeons & Dragons character, calling her “chaotic evil.”
Elon and Amber’s relationship started off on a shady note, as she was still married to Johnny Depp when she met the Tesla founder. During the legal battle, Johnny accused his ex-wife of having an affair with Elon just a month after they got married. According to the lawsuit, the actor alleged that Elon visited his then-wife late at night at her Los Angeles apartment on several occasions. And he also alleged that during one of Elon’s visits, Amber was seen with bruises on her face. During Johnny’s lawsuit against The Sun in 2020, an employee at his building stated that she had seen Amber with marks on her body in mid-2016. The employee also said that she saw Elon leaving the building just before she saw the actress with bruises on her body. Elon later took to Twitter to refute the claims that he visited Amber while she and Johnny were together. “This is false. JD’s team released ‘video evidence’ but conveniently excluded the date stamp as it was long after JD and AH had split.”
In April 2021, Amber Heard suddenly became a mother, welcoming daughter Oonagh Paige via surrogate. The actress shared on Instagram: “Four years ago I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I now realise how radical it is for us women to be put in this position for one of the most fundamental parts of our destiny. I hope we get to a point where it’s normalised not to want a ring to have a crib.” Although she remained silent on the identity of her daughter’s father, Radar reported that she and Elon were “in a legal battle” over the frozen embryos. In legal documents from the trial that were obtained by The Sun, Amber’s friend Jennifer Howell told the court that Elon Musk wanted to get rid of the embryos. But according to her, Amber wanted to use them to get pregnant. If this is true, Amber's daughter would be Musk's twelfth child. Is that true?
